


Let Me Help

by LeahNoLiah



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Marvel - Freeform, The Avengers - Freeform, mcu - Freeform, winterwitch - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 01:52:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18790621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeahNoLiah/pseuds/LeahNoLiah
Summary: Bucky struggles with the contradicting feelings he has for the witch.





	Let Me Help

Dark, mocha lips sucked at a lollipop innocently. Her eyes were downcast as she read a book of some sort on a beanbag chair in the corner of the room. The sucker in her mouth glistened her lips with each lick and suck. It was such an innocent, mindless act but Bucky struggled with the connotative images swirling around in his mind. Wanda was beautiful -there was absolutely no denying it. She was very wise for someone her age. And she was also a brave soul. The kid had seen so much in such a short period of time and at such a young age too: losing her parents as a child, experimentation not much longer later, losing her brother. She went through a lot yet still came out relatively alright.

Despite all her positive qualities, Bucky was still very wary of her powers. Bucky too had gone through a lot and he wasn't healed from it yet. Even though he had escaped the clutches of Hydra's chains, he was still reminded of his torture every time he closed his eyes. He could feel every harsh touch on his skin, every drop of blood coating his hands, the crisp coldness that enveloped him every time he was put in cryo. Hydra had been in control of his mind for decades and he didn't trust Wanda's mind shit either. Bucky just wasn't ready yet.

But that still didn't stop Bucky from admiring her from afar. It felt weird almost. Almost. She was young -just breaching her twenties- and he was old in several ways. She probably never spared him a second look in a romantic way. Not when she could walk outside and find a guy with a simple bat of her pretty green eyes.

Bucky watched her lick at the lollipop until it was worn down to the plastic stick. At that point she got up from the beanbag chair and sauntered to the kitchen where he sat to toss the stick. She passed by him and offered him a kind smile. That's the one thing he hated about her. She was  _nice_.  _To him_. It made things that much harder for Bucky. If Wanda had been mean and rude and an utter bitch to him, Bucky wouldn't be filled with the temptations. But she was nice and always smiled at him when she could. She spoke to him like any other person would speak to a friend. It gave Bucky false hope that maybe,  _just maybe_ , she saw him as more than a friend.

Just as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared back to her spot and resumed reading. Bucky's food had gone cold on his plate having been untouched since he sat down to eat it over thirty minutes ago. Okay, this was starting to get weird. He tossed his food and promptly got out of sight before he got caught.

That night, Bucky had jolted out of another nightmare. His own screaming had woken him up this time instead of Steve like usual. He had been away with Nat and Clint on a recon mission in Spain for the last two days and wouldn't be back until tomorrow. That left him alone, panting, sweating, lost, and confused. His body trembled and his lungs felt like they were on fire. His scalp felt raw and bruised letting him know that he had been ripping at the strands again in his fit. It took several long minutes for Bucky to calm himself down.

He could still feel the electricity of the mind wiping machine swirling around his skull. Another mistake he had made which resulted in another session of recalibration. When weapons break, they need to be fixed. So they wiped him. Bucky's entire body twitched in phantom pain.

He wasn't able to get back to sleep.

And it showed the next day. Sam was the first to comment on Bucky's appearance which captured the attention of the rest of the team. All eyes were looking back at his purple-bagged, red-rimmed ones. He was in no mood to converse with anyone and instead bypassed everyone in favor of a beer from the fridge. And then another. And one more for good measure. No one knew what to do about him -this was usually Steve's expertise- and instead ignored him. As if Bucky would even accept their help if they offered and, besides, Steve would be back soon to deal with his troubled friend. Tony and Bruce had escaped to the lab to avoid the awkwardness. Sam provided an excuse of having to head down to the VA office. Which left Bucky and Wanda alone in the general vicinity.

She looked comfortable. A simple loose, cotton t-shirt and a pair of legging indicated she had no desire to dress to impress. Like yesterday, she sat in her beanbag chair, reading her book. She appeared to be a lot further along than yesterday but she had paused her reading to look Bucky over. Her gaze of pity annoyed him. He didn't want pity. Not from her. His angered expression seemed to be a lot more aggressive than he figured because her eyes had downcast back to her book when she met his own gaze.

Bucky felt bad about it. He didn't mean to upset her. Sighing, he sauntered over and sat on the couch adjacent to her. Wanda looked back up cautiously to see his head in his hands.

"You okay?" she simply asked softly.

"No worse than usual." was his response.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Probably not."

"You didn't sleep last night though." she observed.

"How'd you guess." he snorted.

"Why don't you lay down for a little while?" she suggested.

"I don't wanna go back to my room."

"Then lay here. I'll stay quiet."

"I couldn't go back to sleep even if I wanted to. My head hurts." he complained and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Wanda sat up straighter with a small smile.

"That, I can help with."

"Help how?" Bucky questioned with curiosity. Wanda stood then and made her way over to him. She sat on the couch next to him and carefully lifted a hand to his head. With permission, she carded her fingers through his knotted locks. Her fingers picked at the strands as she did do, pulling free the tangles and fluffing his hair.

"I don't get how this is suppose to-" Bucky started to say but he caught a glimpse of her hand from the corner of his eye and saw the red flame of her powers engulfing her hand and fingers. "No!" he shouted, jumping back and out of reach.

"Relax!" she urged. "I won't delve into your mind, I promise. Trust me, I won't hurt you."

"I don't-I can't...... Hydra-"

"It's okay, Bucky. I'm your friend. I won't do anything you don't want me to do. I'm just gonna get rid of your headache."

"Hydra used to wipe me. So I'd forget. So they'd have control over me." he murmured.

"I won't do that, Bucky." she replied just as softly. Bucky looked at her carefully. Nothing behind her shining, green eyes told him she had any ulterior motive. She had the face of pure innocence and his head was  _really_  hurting. Her fingers felt good combing through his hair and scratching at his scalp. Bucky was tired; tired of fighting this battle, of losing sleep over it, of not living. He was tired of being trapped.

So he nodded.

Wanda pressed her glowing fingers back to his head and combed through his brown tresses. Bucky allowed himself to relax and trust her and close his eyes. He felt a tingling just below his skull. It wasn't painful -actually, it felt more like when you sleep on your arm for too long and it feels all fuzzy. It dulled the pounding ache in his brain and he sighed in relief.

"Lay down." she instructed. He followed her body movements as she too laid back on the couch. Her head propped against the arm of the couch and her back nuzzled comfortably against the back of the couch. Bucky looked to her for a moment. How was he going to go about this? The way she laid left few options for him to position his own body. It seemed that no matter how he fit against her, it'd be an awkward situation. Wanda, on the other hand, didn't seem to care. She pulled at the back of his head and coaxed him to lay anyway. She had him lay his head against her chest so she could tangle her fingers in his hair. Bucky went stiff for a moment, not exactly sure what to think about having his face pressed against her breasts. With her nails once again scratching at his scalp, and with another bout of fuzz engulfing his brain, he didn't think any harder about it and let himself fall into the calming waves washing over him and lulling him towards the sleep he longed for.

Several hours later, Steve, Nat, and Clint had finally made it back to the compound. Nothing went wrong with the recon mission but it took a lot longer than they originally thought. All three of them were desperate for a shower and an actual bed to sleep on but first Steve wanted to check in on Bucky. Sam had sent him a text letting him know that Bucky had another nightmare while he was away.

"Jarvis? Where's Bucky?" Steve asked, stepping into the compound and instinctively walking towards Bucky's room.

"Sergeant Barnes is currently in the communal living room with Miss Maximoff." the AI's voice reverberated. Steve stopped in his tracks and turned, heading towards the living room. When he got there, the sight before him stopped him dead in his tracks. Bucky and Wanda were cuddled up on the couch, his face nuzzled into her chest and her fingers trapped in his hair. Both of them were dead asleep.

Steve smirked then. He knew Bucky had it bad for the girl but was always too afraid to do something about it. Steve had pestered his friend in the past to at least just talk to Wanda and Bucky had promised to do so but he fell short on that promise. Steve eventually stopped bugging him about it. Looks like it paid off. He quietly tiptoed over to the couch, grabbed the throw tossed over the back, and covered the two of them so they didn't get cold. Bucky hates the cold. He stirred for a moment, squishing himself closer to Wanda and tightening his grip around her waist. Confident that his friend was in good hands, Steve left to finally take that shower.


End file.
